Category Archives: Photos

Ancestry.co.uk have recently released a major new collection of documents that relate to New York Naturalisation Records from 1897-1944. If you have relatives that went to the US to “chase the American dream”, this is an exciting development.

Needless to say, I have started to search through the collection for any new records in relation to our Teigers that moved to live in America.

My first new find was paperwork for Dora Teiger, nee Reinlieb. Dora married William Teiger in 1926 and although I have posted her wedding photo before, it really is a beautiful photo, so I am posting it again!

Dora Reinlieb on her wedding day 1926

On Dora’s “Declaration of Intention” form we see an updated photo of her which I assume was taken in 1940 as this is when the form is dated. She still looks as beautiful as she did on her wedding day!

Dora Teiger abt. 1940

The Declaration form was completed in March 1940 and it gives us a wealth of information about Dora and the rest of her family. It’s even got her signature on it!

Declaration of Intention form for Dora Teiger 25.03.1940.(curtsey of the Ancestry.co.uk website)

We learn that the family home address is 710 Fairmont Place, Bronx, New York. A quick search on the old trusted Google Maps shows this area now consists of fairly modern “replacement” buildings.

Husband’s details – born in Liverpool 04.05.1900 and entered the Unites States at New York 02.08.1923.

Children – two, Leonora born 01.01.1928 in New York and Jack born 25.06.1931 in New York.

Emigrated to the United States from Libau, Russia under the name of Dwasje Reinlieb on 16.09.1912.

Two years later she signed her “Petition for Naturalisation” and the family are now living at 804 East 178th Street, New York. The rest of the information remains the same although it is a little clearer to read than the earlier form!

This is a beautiful photo sent to me by Ian of what I am assuming is Dora Reinlieb. Dora married William Teiger in New York on 31st October 1926 and this is a photo, taken in 1926, of a bride on her wedding day, called Dora!

Dora Reinlieb born 1902 Gomel, Russia

Now a lovely photo sent by Steven Teiger that shows a handsome younger self sitting with his grandmother Hetty Teiger nee Cohen. Hetty was the wife of Sidney Wollf Teiger (name spellings as they were on the register).

Hetty and Steven

This photo sent by Ian shows Leonora Teiger and Sol Fields (Finkelstein) on their wedding day in 1947. Leonora, daughter of William Teiger and Dora Reinlieb, was quiet young at 19 years old on her wedding day.

Leonora and Sol on their wedding day.

Hello Jack Teiger, brother of Leonora. Jack was born in New York 25th June 1931 and he passed away on 28th May 1990 in Los Angeles.

Like this:

Ian Teiger in The Wirral has very kindly ventured into his loft and retrieved a whole host of treasures that I intend to share with you all as and when they come through to me. It may be that you have the same photos/documents in your collection or may be they will be new to you and never seen before.

Deborah Leah

Deborah was Ian’s grandmother and was the wife of Jacob Sol Teiger who settled in Liverpool. There now seems to be a little confusion over her maiden name. The marriage record for Jacob and Deborah states that it was Samuels. The birth certificate for their daughter Miriam implies it to have been Goldberg. Another mystery to solve then!

Deborah Leah and her children

Ian thinks this may have been taken just after the death of Jacob in 1920. From left to right we have:

A possible photo of Adolph Max Teiger b.1880. The photo has Adolph Zendel written on the back and is clearly taken in America. Adolph went to America and used the surname of Taylor. Could he also have used a version of his mother’s maiden name of Sendel? Mystery number two to investigate!

Jospeh and Fay Teiger

First time I’ve seen a photo of Fay (Fanny) Kleiff, Joesph’s second wife. His first wife Annie Ison passed away in 1918 as a result of the flu epidemic.

Top left – Joseph and Fay Teiger

Top right – A friend of Hetty, Miriam (Hetty), Fay Teiger nee Kleiff

Bottom left – Now we have a photo that is a mystery but could possibly be Amelia Teiger. The lady quite clearly has Teiger features and looks very much like Joseph. If you recognise this person please let me know!

Like this:

So today would have been Louis’s birthday. He was born 8th August 1908 in Birmingham, the son of Joseph Teiger and Annie Ison.

Louis Teiger 1908 – 1981

In the 1911 census we find him living at 82 Gooch Street, Birmingham with his parents and his brother Sidney. Quite a “cosmopolitan” family with Joseph his father being born in Poland, Annie his mother born in London, Sidney his brother was born in Wales whilst Louis was born in Birmingham.

Louis married Blanch Edwards in June 1935 and at this time he is already living in London and can be picked up in the Electoral Rolls 1934-1939. They had a daughter Julie in 1937.

He appeared in a newspaper story in 1947 after he was involved in a traffic accident, unfortunately with a policeman on his motorcycle! His occupation was reported as “traveller”. The case was dismissed.

I never knew before now that there was such an extensive system of hospitals, resettlement camps and help existed for Polish soldiers to resettle in the UK all made available through the Polish Resettlement Corps. Nor that the The Polish Resettlement Act 1947 existed and “was the first ever mass immigration legislation of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It offered British citizenship to over 200,000 displaced Polish troops on British soil who had fought against Nazi Germany and opposed the Soviet takeover of their homeland. The act also supplied a labour force to the demands of war-torn Britain” (Wikipedia). It’s amazing what you learn through tracing your family.

Whilst in hospital in Scotland, Stanislaw started to search for his Grandmother and her children, his Aunts and Uncles, that had travelled to England in or around 1900. They were Minnie Teiger and her children Adolf, Amelia, Joseph, Michael, Bennett and Martin. I’ll share more information in my next post as I have been sent some wonderful letters that Stanislaw sent to his family during this time.

There is a website at http://www.polishgreatness.com that contains photographs of the 2nd Polish Corps during their battle at Monte Cassino in Italy, where Stanislaw was injured. Nothing brings history to life better than pictures and these photos give you a real sense of what all these soldiers went through and suffered during this battle.

Kindly forwarded by Jonathan Tygier are the below photographs of his Grandparents, John Tygier and Barbara Najman.

John (Jan) Tygier 1883-1930

John was one of the three children that did not come to the UK with his mother, Minnie, and six of his brothers and sisters. The other two children that stayed behind where a sister Gustawa (Gertrude) and a brother Herman.

Below is some form of ID pass for Jan (Ksiazeczka Wojskowa = Book Military)

As Gooch Street in Birmingham figured quiet significantly in the Teiger family, I thought I would find out what information I could about the area and the people who lived there. The family seem to have started out living at 82 before moving to 81 Gooch Street where they were in residence for a very long time.

I’ve searched the British News Archive website of fabulous old newspapers for any mentions of Gooch Street through the ages. There were quite a few so the below are “just a taster” of the people and their lives in Gooch Street.

Now you may think that Gooch Street was rife with crime and unhappy events after reading these clippings but, newspapers being newspapers, they would have published stories that gained them more readers and sold more newspapers!

I also came across these interesting photographs of Gooch Street on the Digital Balsall Heath website and Chris very kindly said I could reproduce them. Take a look at their website, they have lots more photos. (Source: Balsall Heath Local History Society; Sutton, Chris)

1955 – View looking towards the junction with Conybere Street. Woolworths is in centre foreground and then the long white building is The Triangle cinema. Conybere Street is the just visible right turn after the cinema.

1963 – Moyle & Adams’ grocers to the centre of the photograph. Left of them is Kingston’s butchers.To the right is Gerald’s fruit and flowers. The roadside gutter is packed with swept up ice and slush from a snowfall.

1910-1940 – Shop on the corner at the centre of the picture is Samuel Thornley Ltd. est. 1794 Wholesale Drysalters and makers of French Polish, Varnish and Lacquer. The shop beneath (also Samuel Thornley) advertises “Motor Oils, Grease & Cotton Wast”. Further down the street is Balsall Timber & Joinery Ltd.

13th August 1942

19th November 1940

Bomb damage in Gooch Street near the bridge over the River Rea in Highgate, 1942

This pub is on the corner of Bissell Street. General Sir Charles James Napier,(August, 10, 1782 – August 29, 1853), was a general of the British Empire and the British Army’s Commander-in-Chief in India, notable for conquering the Sindh Province in what is now Pakistan.

The Triangle Cinema, on the corner of Conybere Street and Gooch Street, was originally known as Pringle’s Palace as it was owned by Ralph Pringle, a pioneer of the cinema trade. This view shows the Triangle in 1957.Bernard Jackson talks about The Triangle:“The Triangle had the best acoustics of any cinema they had and they tried to build them like it and they couldn’t. It was a complete triangle but there was one lot of seats top to bottom. You could roll a ball or bottle down. During the week the women would come out the pub, go into the cinema and have a sup then put the bottle on the floor. I paid two jam jars to get in”.

It still amazes me today how much information is out there on the internet if you have the time to look.